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Topic: Identify piano piece name please?  (Read 2273 times)

Offline therapist69

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Identify piano piece name please?
on: August 15, 2014, 12:45:09 PM
Hi, I'm new to these forums. Hopefully I'm posting in the correct place, but here goes:

A few years ago, I attended a Piano Eisteddfod (if you really want to know, it was the City of Parramatta Eisteddfod, which is in Sydney) and I heard a few people playing a piece. Now I don't remember the name of it, despite many searches online, and I hope someone can help me identify it.

If I remember correctly, the piece begins with a simple motif in the first bar that continues for quite some time the piece (https://i.imgur.com/ekKCQTO.png). The second bar begins with this (https://i.imgur.com/hz1QGl0.png) - I don't know whether those high quavers are the exact notes, but it's the general contour as I remember it. As for the rest of the piece, I simply cannot remember any more.

I think it starts in C Major, but there's a little key change somewhere through the piece, but the main theme of the piece stays the same.

Thanks in advance.

Offline richard black

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #1 on: August 15, 2014, 07:56:49 PM
Looks like Shostakovich to me...
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Offline therapist69

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #2 on: August 16, 2014, 02:16:19 PM
Well I just spent some time browsing through a list of Shostakovich's compositions, and while I can see why you would say it could be composed by him, I can't find it.

It would be great if you (or anyone) could help me out a bit further by identifying the piece. It's a great piece. Even finding a recording (the manuscript would be fine too!) would be helpful :)

(I don't know why, but for some reason I have a hunch that it *might* be Schumann, but I can't find a match to his compositions either).

Offline worov

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #3 on: August 18, 2014, 09:07:35 AM
A Debussy Etude ?



Offline therapist69

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #4 on: August 20, 2014, 10:46:28 AM
No, it's not unfortunately :(

The piece in general is quite fast - going by the note values in my images in the OP, my guess would be tempo: crotchet = 120 beats per minute. I'll try to post just a little more of what I can remember in the subsequent bar or so.

Offline coda_colossale

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #5 on: August 20, 2014, 11:20:41 PM
Okay, assuming that it was not just a CDEFG figure going up and down impressing you, and your memory is somewhat weak, these are all candidates if you stretch it a bit:
Weber- Sonata No. 1?
Mendelssohn- Perpetuum Mobile?
Debussy- Images I-III?

Offline therapist69

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #6 on: August 23, 2014, 02:41:50 AM
Here's a bit more.
https://i.imgur.com/jUb6Zof.png
Again, it's as exact as my memory can make it out to be. I'm unsure of the transposition of the final 5-6 bars (i.e. maybe shift up/down a few semitones) but it *should* follow that approximate contour.

"Okay, assuming that it was not just a CDEFG figure going up and down impressing you"
@coda_colossale: Haha, of course not. It's the part that I remember best though. And no, I don't think it's any of the pieces you've posted. :(

Offline bobert

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #7 on: September 17, 2014, 06:48:43 AM
What you've written down reminds me of Johann Strauss Jr.'s Perpetuum Mobile (an orchestral piece) which sort comes off like a static polka.  It goes on and on just like that with numerous odd/humorous phrases thrown in.  Perhaps you heard a scaled down version of it.

music: https://imslp.org/wiki/Perpetuum_Mobile,_Op.257_%28Strauss_Jr.,_Johann%29

midi: https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/190147

Offline pianoplayjl

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #8 on: September 18, 2014, 01:49:38 AM
I think it might be  "Galop final" by  Alfredo Casella.
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Offline outin

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #9 on: September 18, 2014, 03:18:29 AM
I think it might be  "Galop final" by  Alfredo Casella.

Indeed, if the notation is correct, that's it.

Offline bobert

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Re: Identify piano piece name please?
Reply #10 on: September 18, 2014, 04:52:48 AM
The prior two posters are correct.  

This music appears at the end of Casella's collection of children's pieces, Op. 35, 11 Pezzi Infantili.

You did a pretty good job of recall, including key!  And the out-of-key stuff is similar to what you've written, but the underlying harmony changes to support it so that it's no longer out-of-key.
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